FDL Late Nite: Whore, n., 1. A prostitute. . .

3. A person considered as having compromised principles for personal gain.

You know, sometimes I'm an old fashioned sort. I can appreciate tradition. I certainly believe in hard work, and positively adore the craft of genuine professionalism.

In that spirit, I bring you an underappreciated practitioner of the world's oldest profession, a woman in congress Congress, Ellen Tauscher. She can slurp the gnarly nub of power with the very best, gamely grinning to the gushing finish: a working girl's working girl. Howie calls her, "a bribe-taking corporate whore and shit eater who has guaranteed herself a nasty primary in 2008."

I might have introduced her to you as the Democratic Representative of California's 10th Congressional District, but I understand Madam eschews the label:

"I don't remember being elected to go to Washington to be a Democrat," she said. "I represent a lot of different kinds of people."

That comment, from 2003, came while under fire after she and Tom Lantos were the only Democrats in the Bay Area House delegation to support giving President Bush the authority to go to war with Iraq.

More recently, Madam Tauscher connived with Rahm Emanuel (D-Tomczak) to suppress Jerry McNerney's primary bid in neighboring CA-11, only, alas, to be foiled. Jerry, the Blue America favorite who took out uber corrupt wingnut Dirty Dick Pombo, went on, of course, to win the general election, opposed by Madam Tauscher and Rahm Emanuel (D-Tomczak) all the way. Howie wrote, after the general election:

One of the most important victories of the night was Jerry McNerney's 53-47% (85,551- 76, 196) triumph over Dirty Dick Pombo, one of the most extremist, corrupt and dangerous members of he 109th Congress. Not only was this not a targeted race it is a perfect example of how Emanuel fought against grassroots Democrats to try to impose his will. The McNerney story has been told many times, I just want to remind you that Emanuel and his sleazy corporate-whore ally, Ellen Tauscher, tried to impose a pro-business hack on CA-11. They made Jerry waste thousands of grassroots dollars fighting off a well-financed Inside-the-Beltway juggernaut. Unlike in many other cases around the country, McNerney survived Emanuel's attempts to remove some people in the district actually wanted who has values and ideas people in the district were eager to get behind. To Emanuel, McNerney was too anti-war, too anti-corporate and, worst of all, too independent minded.

Unfortunately for Eager Ellen, as Howie elsewhere notes, "every time slimy machine pols like Emanuel or his yap-dog-in-California, Ellen Tauscher, would do something else to undermine Jerry's campaign, grassroots fundraising would ramp up." Howie appreciates her talent as a "greasy corporate whore", just as I do. Here's a little more we can learn about Madam Tauscher from Howie:

I bring this up tonight to put Madam Tauscher's great corporate suck from today's New York Times in context. Speaking of Speaker-to-be Pelosi's friend and ally, Representative George Miller, a highly respected progressive and senior member of the House, Tauscher patronizingly cooed:

“He is liberal, and that pragmatism is always difficult to achieve when you’re passionate about something,” said Representative Ellen O. Tauscher, Democrat of California and a leader of the party’s more moderate wing in the House.

Party members have gritted their teeth for 12 years, she said. And now, “on a napkin, on the back of an envelope, in their BlackBerry, they’ve got lists of what they want to do, and they think their priorities are everybody’s priorities.”

“But in the end, this is about securing a majority for more than two years,” she said. “I don’t expect him to be thrilled about it. But I think he’s sanguine; he’s pragmatic and realistic.”

Oh, those nettlesome principles. Such a shame to have to answer to us dirty fucking hippies with a list on the back of a napkin. Here, Madam Tauscher: use it to wipe your chin.

Why does she have Miller in her sights? That is to say, why do her clients have Miller in their sights? Let's read a little further:

He is also known more informally as the dean of the town house on Capitol Hill that has served as a kind of fraternity house for a succession of Democrats. Mr. Miller lived there with his family before they moved back to California; his roommates now are Senators Richard J. Durbin of Illinois and Charles E. Schumer of New York, the second- and third-ranking Democrats, and Representative Bill Delahunt of Massachusetts. In long-running Tuesday dinners with a group that included Mrs. Pelosi and other now-senior Democrats, it was Mr. Miller, other members say, who was the first to declare that Mrs. Pelosi would become the nation’s first female speaker.

As chairman of the Democrats’ steering and policy committee, he helped shape the platform the Democrats ran on in the midterm elections — including raising the minimum wage, cutting interest rates on student loans and expanding stem cell research.

“He has guided Democrats’ policy agenda that unified the caucus and spoke to the dreams and aspirations of the American people,” Mrs. Pelosi said.

Some who know both lawmakers say that Mr. Miller’s counsel continues to be important to her. “Not only can George give her good advice, but he can also tell her things she doesn’t want to hear,” Ms. Tauscher said. “Sometimes you can only take tough news from somebody that is very close to you.”

Ah, well: we have our answer:

POWER.

Miller is a highly influential, established progressive who will help to set Speaker Pelosi's agenda. He's described elsewhere in the article as a "liberal lion," the same language the DC/K Street Elites use to describe Dirty Fucking Hippy-in-Chief Senator Ted Kennedy. So why the hit piece, and why now?

The same media establishment that's been cattily sniping at Speaker-to-be Pelosi for daring to become a powerful, successful, progressive woman Speaker is targeting her influential allies to protect Lipitor's Medicare Part D premium and the Great and Powerful McCain/Lieberman War Machine and Pony Farm. Accordingly, as a genuine professional and a faithful working girl, Tongue Twirling Tauscher aims to please. I suspect Sten Hoyer and Rahm Emanuel (D-Tomczak) may be needing new kneepads by Christmas as well. Shop now.

Pachacutec

Pachacutec did not, as is commonly believed, die in 1471. To escape the tragic sight of his successors screwing up the Inca Empire he’d built, he fled east into the Amazon rain forest, where he began chewing lots of funky roots to get higher than Hunter Thompson ever dared. Oddly, these roots gave him not only a killer buzz, but also prolonged his life beyond what any other mortal has known, excluding Novakula. Whatever his doubts of the utility of living long enough to see old friends pop up in museums as mummies, or witness the bizarrely compelling spectacle of Katherine Harris, he’s learned a thing or two along the way. For one thing, he’s learned the importance of not letting morons run a country, having watched the Inca Empire suffer many civil wars requiring the eventual ruler to gain support from the priests and the national military. He now works during fleeting sober moments to build a vibrant progressive movement sufficiently strong and sustainable to drive a pointed stake through the heart of American “conservatism” forever. He enjoys a gay marriage, classic jazz and roots for the New York Mets.